I was thinking the other day about the indeterministic nature of Diablo 3, and came to the realization that trying to make a Diablo 3 Gold Guide is going to be very difficult and practically pointless. All of the gold guides will be very simple, they'll all look the same, and they'll all be very short.

Here's Why

In World of Warcraft, there's just so much to do and so much variation (even when the game first came out). There's mining, gathering, crafting, services, dailies, special quests, and a thousand more forms of farming. There are mods to improve gold and item gathering. Due to the massive variety of quests, some can be bugged to give extra XP or gold. There are mobs that drop varying quantities of gold, materials, or different XP gains. Each mob has a specific loot table so that you can farm groups of mobs over and over to get a certain item or crafting material. Bosses also have specific loot tables, so that you can keep farming the same boss or instance to get it.

But Diablo 3 is nothing like that. The massive variety is gone, specialized mob drops are gone, loot tables are gone, gathering is gone, special quests are gone, etc.

If you compare the two gaming experiences, you can look at it this way:

players are only able to go from one zone to the next. They are all in order like a game on rails. You can only move forwards or move back into one zone at a time.

all of the mobs in the zone drop the exact same amount of XP and gold.

basically, there are thousands of the "same monster" in each zone, and you can only get a different monster by moving into the next zone. In zone 2, all of the mobs are level 7-9, they all drop level 7-9 items. In zone 3, all of the mobs are level 10-12, they all drop level 10-12 items. And so on..

there are no loot tables.

there are no mods to help you, improve gathering, or make the AH easier to use.

when you kill the boss at the end of the zone, they all have the same chances of dropping the exact same items.

there's no such thing as "farming" anymore. It's more simple: just kill everything in the zone because they all drop the same stuff.

all of the mobs drop the same crafting items too, so you can't farm specific mobs for items or mats.

because you have your own private world now, there's no competition or rarity of mobs to drive up prices on the Auction House. Meaning, they're of less value to you and not worthwhile to "farm".

"farming" bosses just drops more rares, but you can kill larger quantities of weaker monsters to get the same drops.

Basically, "farming" is gone. It's non existent in Diablo 3. If you want to "farm" items, it's now "farming" on the Auction House. That's where you know the specific items will be.

So, what does this leave for Diablo 3 Gold Guides?

There might be some guides on which classes are the most overpowered and in combination with certain skills. But, that's just a class guide and not a gold guide. It really just helps you kill mobs faster. (Classes will also be balanced regularly by Blizzard, so things will change. I would recommend becoming an altoholic so stay on top.)

There's no farming anymore, everything is just random selling on the Auction House.

There could be "gold guides" about what the best gear, items, or equipment for your character is. But, what's the point if the Auction House already does this for you? (e.g. the gear/skill matching system.)

The only useful guide would be a list of item rarity. All mobs have the same drop chances, but some items have more rare drop chances than others. That's where true value is determined.

So, there might be guides on how players can scan the Auction House more efficiently and what items and recipes to search for. If the items are being sold for really cheap, and the seller doesn't know the true value, they can be resold. Even better, recipes can be bought (if the seller doesn't know it's true value), and then multiple items crafted and resold from the single recipe.

But, that's all very common sense stuff. A guide isn't needed to tell people that.

And according to Robert Bridenbecker, they don't expect market manipulation to be possible. That means, no cornering or markets, no rare selling strategies, everyone just has the same chance of getting the same drops and selling the same stuff as everyone else. Everyone now has an equal chance of making the same money... whether they're skilled farmers or AH strategists.

Supply >>> Demand

His comments really concerned me actually, they're anticipating that supply will always be significantly greater than demand. WOW is much different. Plus, that's not very good for an economy.

I hope this isn't true though. From the sounds of things, when the game first launches there will be a lot of crazy selling and buying too, because no one will realize how valuable items truly are.. they'll just go by their short term benefits. Once things settle in though, I think Diablo 3 will have a massive penny market. Everyone will be selling their drops for pennies, just slightly above the listing fee and other cuts, and the both Auction Houses will be flooded with items.

All items will be selling for 10 or 20 cents. And people will buy them because they're so cheap. "Oh wow, only $0.20 for this armor upgrade? Buy! Oh.. another leg piece, and only for $0.10! Buy!"

Within the massive penny market, avid sellers might make $0.20-$2.00 per day selling hundreds of items (after hours and hours of work). But Blizzard will be profiting 10-20% of all earnings from the millions if not billions of player transactions per day. :)

Besides the massive penny market, there will also be those very rare and sudden drops that any player has a chance of winning. That's what keeps players going.. that chance to "suddenly win" a $10-50 item. People will be addicted to this, and that's where the true gambling nature of the game comes in.

The Best Diablo Gold Guides?

Unfortunately, the best gold guides will be about cheating and exploits.

Within the legitimate Diablo 3 game, you'll want to read guides on how to make the most efficient killing machine. Techniques, class, and skills to build the best AOE class you can.. and which zones have the most number of mobs in the smallest amount of space.

Finding mobs that give birth to smaller mobs (and killing those) is probably the most efficient (like the "Mothers" in the first zone). And you'll want to keep resetting the zone over and over. The game is about killing quantity, and not quality or specific farming. It might even be worth killing more mobs instead of bosses since time is a factor. Diablo 3 is all about KPM (Kills Per Minute.)

Other tips? Don't buy anything. Ever.

Selling gold and characters will provide the most consistent revenue. If you're a gambler, focus on drops.

Watch patch notes (unsure if there will be a D3 PTR) so that you can know if certain item drop chances will change, if items will have their modifiers changed, or if drops will be removed (if existing items remain, this will increase their rarity and possibly value.)

When the time comes, I'll probably create a few of my own gold guides.. but I think they'll mostly focus on the Auction House, areas with the most condensed monster groups, and probably player tricks or exploits.